GCSE English Coursework †Wide Reading Assignment - Lamb to the Slaughter :: English Literature

GCSE English Coursework Wide Reading Assignment - Lamb to the executeby Roald Dahl, and The Speckled Band In this wide reading assignment I choose been looking at two stories,Lamb to the Slaughter by Roald Dahl, and The Speckled Band by SirArthur Conan-Doyle. Both these stories are classed as capital punishmentmysteries, and I am intending to investigate and par the motivesof the killers in both stories.The Speckled Band is written in first person from the viewpoint ofDr. Watson. The story starts with Watson looking over notes of thecases that he and Holmes have taken in the last eight years one inparticular comes to his mind, and from their Watson tells the story ofThe Speckled Band. The killer in The Speckled Band is Dr GrimesbyRoylott. Roylott is a tall man who was strong built.Lamb to the Slaughter is written in a third person perspective, andthe story starts with a description of a room, and then breaks intothe characters, and follows them though the rest of the story. The killer in Lamb to the Slaughter is Mary Maloney, a gentle, petitehousewife.The two stories, as previously said, are both classed as murdermysteries, however when comparing these two stories the styles ofwriting and the stylus in which the stories are presented is completelydifferent. An example of this would be the chronological consecrate of eachof the stories. What I mean by this is the traditional order of murdermysteries would be body, a motive, a weapon, a death, a suspect, analibi and detectives. Lamb to the Slaughter and The Speckled Band areno exception to these guidelines. The Speckled Band follows thisorder and is a very traditional murder mystery Lamb to the Slaughteron the other hand does not follow the conventional style of murdermysteries and follows its own order. This order would be a motive, aweapon, a death, a killer, an alibi and detectives. In changing thetraditional order of murder mysteries I obtain that Dahl is mocking thegenre of Murder Mysteries.The motiv es in The Speckled Band are clear from an early stage. Itsclear to see that Roylotts motives was the money, or the lack of ithe would have if his step-daughters were to marry. While spending sometime in India, Dr Roylott married a considerably rich woman. Upon herand Roylotts return to England Mrs Stoner died, and left her money toDr Roylott, and an annual computer memory that Julia and Helen Stoner couldcollect when they were to wed. This is what Dr Roylott obviously